DIGEST: Ex-NBA player Turpin commits suicide

Police and the coroner were called to his North Lexington, Ky., house Thursday afternoon on a personal injury call. They found Turpin dead.

Coroner Gary Ginn says that Turpin had committed suicide, but would not say how. He also would not say whether Turpin left behind a suicide note.

Margaret Burrus, his sister, tearfully told reporters outside her home that her brother was diabetic and trying to keep it under control.

The 6-foot-11 Turpin, dubbed “The Big Dipper,” was an All-Southeastern Conference player for the Wildcats from 1980-84. He led Kentucky to the SEC championship in 1984.

He averaged a career-high 15.2 points per game in 1983-84 and shot 74.5 percent from the field.

Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky athletics director, said school supporters “will forever remember Melvin and all his contributions to our basketball program.”

Current coach John Calipari expressed his sympathy to Turpin’s family and said he is praying “for their strength during this time of grief.”

Turpin was the sixth player selected in the 1984 NBA draft that included Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, but never had the NBA success of those future stars.

TRACK AND FIELD

Usain Bolt won the 100 meters at the Athletissima meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 9.82 seconds, returning from an Achilles’ tendon injury to match the year’s fastest time.

SPORTS AND DRUGS

The former sports director of T-Mobile’s cycling team has claimed in a newspaper interview that he arranged for Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich to visit a Madrid-based doctor allegedly involved in doping.

Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes was accused in May 2006 of running a laboratory that stored and enhanced the blood of over 50 cyclists with the banned performance-enhancer Erythropoietin, known as EPO.

“My mistake is that I organized Jan Ullrich’s trips to Madrid to see Dr. Fuentes,” Rudy Pevenage said in Thursday editions of sports daily L’Equipe. “What’s the point in continuing to lie about it now? But what should be known is that, at the time, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything wrong.”

The German rider Ullrich won the 1997 Tour but was kicked out on the eve of the 2006 Tour, along with Italian rider Ivan Basso, because of their suspected implication in the Operation Puerto case.

• Olympic and world 100-meter champion Shelly-Ann Fraser has tested positive for a painkiller. The president of Fraser’s track club says Fraser tested positive for oxycodone at the Diamond League meet May 23 in Shanghai.

MLS

World Cup veteran Robbie Findley’s penalty-kick goal late in the first half and Nick Rimando’s fifth straight shutout gave Real Salt Lake a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire.

WNBA

Tamika Catchings scored 24 points to lead the Indiana Fever to a 100-72 victory over the Tulsa Shock ... Rebekkah Brunson had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead Minnesota to an 89-66 victory over San Antonio.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

USC is ineligible for the USA Today coaches’ poll for the upcoming season. Grant Teaff, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, issued a statement to USA Today confirming that his organization’s members aren’t allowed to vote for any school on major probation, such as a bowl ban.